My Current Make-Up Regime – Part 1 – Foundation

I start the “lipstick powder and paint” process with foundation and then concealer over the top, even though I’m led to believe it’s supposed to be done the other way round. Oh well, it works for me this way is all I can say!

For hygiene and smooth application, I prefer to use my fingers for foundation, but I tend to use a brush most days simply so I don’t have to wash my hands again afterwards – any minutes saved in the morning routine equals more minutes sleeping before the alarm goes off hehe.

I have combination skin, I like a medium coverage and I have several foundations that I like detailed below. I’m certainly not a tinted moisturizer type of gal but neither do I want to look too caked.

Revlon Colorstay Make Up with softflex

This ticks all the boxes for me and has done for some years despite trying probably hundreds of others. It’s a liquid formula, has a pale enough colour that is not too pale, provides good buildable coverage, a choice of one for Combination/Oily Skin or one for Normal/Dry skin, and all at a reasonable price. Oh, and it has SPF6 – not very high but at least it has some. Winner.

Chanel Mat Lumiere Long Lasting Luminous Matte Fluid Makeup (Some mouthful eh!)

Thicker than I would normally use but is good if you are looking for a bit more coverage without it accentuating lines and looking too cakey. It’s pricey though of course being Chanel. It is a pump action bottle which adds brownie points for me.

Mac Studiofix Fluid

This is to my mind almost exactly the same as my favourite, Revlon Colorstay, except that the choice of colours is far superior in Mac Studiofix yet I can’t find as good a colour match as with my Revlon! It does have SPF15 though. Oh and it's twice the price of Revlon.

Clarins Truly Matt Foundation

This is also pretty much like Revlon Colorstay, except a little bit thicker consistency, but it comes in a plastic bottle so I use this as my travel foundation – lighter and easier to fit in make up bag. This one is not quite so forgiving on facial lines if you don’t use it sparingly though!

Using a foundation brush does in my opinion take a bit more blending and also uses a bit more product as some is caught within the bristles.

So, to the process……….after I put my moisturizer on, I start to ‘unpack’ the required items from my make up bag (Ok, ok, I admit it, it’s a big vanity case of stuff, not just a bag). By the time I’ve done that my moisturizer has sunk in just enough and I’m ready to begin with foundation. I put a pea sized amount onto the brush and then quickly dab onto my nose, each cheek, forehead and chin, by which time the brush is almost dry and any leftovers get swept over my eyes. I then just blend blend blend until all the tide lines have disappeared – just a few minutes ‘work’ for a great result :0)

Quick Nail Polish Review

Sparitual in “Crystal Water”

2 coats is all that’s needed, great bright colour but unfortunately for me being so pale skinned meant it made my hands look even more deathly white! More suited to dark toned skin. Sparitual Vegan Nail Lacquers have no DBP, Formaldehyde or Toluene.

OPI in “The Colour To Watch”

Interestingly this didn’t work very well on top of my false nails but it worked beautiful on my (natural) toenails. A bit more of a sensible colour if there is such a thing, very feminine and not too bold but with a dash of pearly shimmer to make it more interesting. Takes quite a few coats to get any depth of colour though.

Ciate in “Mistress”

Fab fab fab consistency and a very pretty bottle – great colour with only 1 coat needed. Colour bit too much on the orange side for me but is certainly a lively pop of colour. Not sure where you can buy this brand high street wise though – I got this one free on a magazine. Looking at the website there isn’t a huge array of colours and the nicest ones are sold out.

No7 Soft & Soothed Gentle Cleanser for Normal/Dry Skin

You gotta love those £5 off Boots vouchers eh, which for me meant that this cleanser only cost £3 (Any amount of money I can save in Boots is a good thing, I spent a large part of my wages there). The trick is remembering that you have the vouchers though isn’t it, and using them before they expire :0)

Looking back at my current skincare post, you may have surmised that I was happy with my Johnson’s nourishing cleansing lotion and that is indeed true. However, I’m always looking for a product that is even better, and one thing my Johnsons doesn’t do is remove my eye make up. Enter No7 soft and soothed.

I was slightly apprehensive about buying a cleanser for normal/dry skin, when my skin is far from normal and/or dry, but since it worked out best doing it that way with my Johnsons cleanser, it seemed the sensible path. My apprehension was about ending up with even greasier skin and a lot of pimples.

Firstly I have to say that I was pleasantly surprised with the smell of the cleanser, in that it’s almost fragrance free. I have mostly avoided No7 products because any that I’ve tried in the past had a strange dusty old smell to them! (Honestly, check the testers next time you are in boots, it’s really odd).

Ease of use for this cleanser gets top marks as it has a pump dispenser. It doesn’t dispense an awful lot with each pump but that works for me as I usually end up using too much with non-dispenser types.

So, what’s the actual product like? Well, it DOES take off my eye make up easily and as a cleanser it does exactly what it says on the tin – sweeps away make-up and impurities, comforts and hydrates.  I’m a cleanse tone and moisturize girl as you know, and usually my face doesn’t feel “finished” until I’ve completed all three steps, but after using this my skin felt clean and moisturised but not greasy and could have happily been left at that stage. (I didn’t leave it, I’m all about following the skincare “rules” he he).

Now, you know how fussy I am so most products have a downside for me, and for this cleanser it’s that it leaves a film on my eyes after removing mascara etc, so much so that everything looks a bit blurry unless I use a toner over my eyes to finish. Quite a surprising downside since it doesn’t feel that way on the rest of the skin.

My conclusion is that it’s a great facial cleanser, but not £5 better than my Johnson’s (without a voucher it’s £8 and the Johnsons one is £3). If I had another voucher, I would repurchase, mostly for the convenience of the pump dispenser. 

Acrylic Nails

Yes yes, nails again, I’m all about the nails lately I know. Maybe that’s to do with the diamond recently put on a certain finger :0)

Unimpressed as I was with the silk nails I had done (see my review in February), I decided to go for the much tougher Acrylic. You may recall that my last experience of Acrylic nails was when one of them ripped right off with my natural nail attached to it, ouch. So, Acrylics for me were a brave move but I know they are strong and I know what to watch out for this time!

My salon of choice was Nailzone in Glasgow (Hope St), and from the moment I sat down I felt like I had made the right choice. I knew I’d be leaving with a much better looking set of nails than the sorry excuses I went in with. The salon is very pink and girlie and the girls are smiley and friendly and I got a lovely cuppa before the nail magic began.
You can see the end result in the photo above and I think they look amazing. I can honestly say it’s the best set of false nails I’ve had….ever. The technical work that went on to get them looking like they did was pretty darn impressive too – there is no white tip painted on, and neither is it a false white tip, but rather it is sculpted from white acrylic. 

Perhaps more impressive for my sensitive skin is that I had no cuts or stinging at all which is a first for my poor hands – they usually look and feel like a cats been at them.

It has been 2 weeks since they were done and this is how they are looking now….

The UV Gel top coat that was put on means I’ve been able to put on coloured nail polish and remove when required with no damage or detrimental effect to the French manicure look underneath. Winner :0)  

Fake Bake Flawless

Yep, that’s right; I had not a single bit of patience and rushed right out to get the fake bake flawless spray, right after my post :0)  So far, I love it. I suspect it may be a tad too dark for my fair skin, but honestly, I don’t really care!

It comes with a pair of gloves and an application mitt which combined make it super easy to apply. You put the gloves on, then put the mitt on one hand and spray the product onto the mitt using your other hand. Next, you sweep the glove over the area you want to tan – it only takes about 4-5 sprays to cover the entire face and neck and maybe 10-12 sprays to cover feet and legs to top of thigh. I imagine that this bottle is going to last quite some time which makes it better value than most fake tans in the same price range. 

It dries almost instantly which is great, but I put it on at bedtime so I can’t vouch for what it would look like under make up. I suspect that it may be too dark – it’s scary dark when it first goes on, my other half was laughing his socks off when he saw me post application. It does come off on pillows/sheets etc, but washes out no problem.

The morning after, a lot of the tan washes off, but not quite as much as with St Tropez. I did worry (when I saw how little was washing off in the shower) that I would look way too tanned but I was pleasantly surprised when I stepped out – it looked as “natural” as a fake tan with a decent colour CAN look!

I would say the colour lasted the usual 4-5 days but the best thing about it was that it faded without becoming patchy. Oh, and it smells gorgeous – like coconut. It's a definate repurchase for me.

See below pictures of before, with the application, and after it's washed off.

(Photos taken from http://www.medizen.co.uk/Treatments/Display.asp?ID=24)

Olay Regenerist SPF 30 Flawless Skin Cream

Finally I got round to dipping into my Christmas book – “Don’t go to the Cosmetics counter without me” and was delighted to find a day cream (Olay)  with an SPF of 30 that was highly recommended. I’m always on the look out for a high SPF day cream that won’t feel too thick and greasy and clog up my skin. In fact, if it helps with shine and mattifies, all the better, as I must admit I have a bit of a “glow” going on in the T Zone usually by late morning!

I had a favourite – Dermalogica oil free matte SPF20 moisturizer. Not only did it mattify, it smelt gorgeous, kind of like a beach (yes really!), but alas they stopped making it. I now use Zenmed oil free SPF30 which I also love, but I can’t buy it in the UK, and have to order it online with crazy postage prices and a long wait for it’s arrival.

Not only does it claim to be fast absorbing and non-greasy, Olay regenerist SPF30 Flawless Skin Cream also promises to protect you from both UVA and UVB rays, whilst bringing you visibly younger and more even-looking skin with its amino-peptide complex. I was full of hope just reading it!

Good Points – the smell is divine, and the cream has a beautiful texture and smooths on like a dream. It does sink into the skin well and doesn’t feel too greasy. Foundation seemed to go on well over the top although I could feel that it wasn’t completely matt. The bottle is a nice size, pretty looking, with a handy pump dispenser.

Bad Points – Price – its £29.99 a bottle. I was also surprised to read a couple of the Boots.com reviews that said they found it non-greasy but then I think there was a mention of dry skin – for me I could feel the difference between this and my usual matt moisturizers within an hour or so. My foundation started to do that awful “gathering” thing and looked and felt like a layer of war paint. Eeeurgh!

The conclusion for me unfortunately is a resounding no good, but I do have to say that it might work for someone with dry skin. There are many days (mostly when a big pimple makes an appearance) that I wish I had that particular problem, but I guess the grass is always greener eh!